Lush Life

To be a lush chef, does not mean to drink in excess - this can result in scary fires and bad dishes. A lush chef is one who enjoys gourmet cooking/baking, often with fresh ingredients and the smart use of one's home bar. If there happens to be half a bottle of beer, a glass of wine, or a sip of brandy left over...well, one cannot be wasteful. I give you permission to imbibe.

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Libations used: Generous splash of white wine...Libations left over: Pour yourself a glass after you get those mushrooms in the oven...
About a year ago, I had a cocktail party and served these Stuffed Mushrooms with White Wine. Like most stuffed mushroom recipes, it contained bread crumbs and some cheese. When I was home this past Christmas, my dad showed me this cheesier version from All Recipes. There are no bread crumbs in it, and you reserved the stems to chop up in a cheese mixture. Instead of cream cheese, we substituted Laughing Cow's creamy Swiss cheese. We also Lush Chef'd it up by throwing in a generous splash of Sauvignon Blanc. I mean, I learned from the best — never waste some good wine. Based on the size of the mushrooms you select, you can easily stuff more than twelve, but I guarantee that each person will want more than one!

Stuffed Mushrooms - serves 12-18
Ingredients:

12-18 Crimini mushrooms

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1 Tbs minced garlic

Generous splash of white wine (we used Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc)

8 oz Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese, softened

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

- Preheat oven to 350.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Carefully clean the mushrooms and save the stems.
- Finely chop the stems and set aside.
- Add the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Add the garlic, mushroom stems and white wine.
- Fry up until any moisture has disappeared.
- When the mushroom mixture has cooled down, stir in the Swiss and Parmesan cheeses, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper.
- Generously fill each mushroom cap with the filling and arrange them on your lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes.